It has been proven that small and large studios can now create excellent and professional work and quality. Even with movies and shows that appear on youtube and other small independent studios. We no longer need Hollywood and big studios to produce entertainment.

And although there is a Deryni Rising movie with Sony Pictures, it is obviously in development hell and will probably never see the light of day like most projects that get into that rut. The only way to save them is to move them to another venue or studio that will take the ball and run with it instead of burying it behind so many others.

The other thing that has been proven is that even a web based series or even any TV network doesn't have to follow the old pattern of being 20 some episodes for each season. They can be very short seasons if needed in order to tell the tale they are meant to broadcast.

Given the wide support and following that author George R.R. Martin has had with his Song of Ice and Fire novels made into the HBO series Game of Thrones. People like the sword and sorcery storytelling. And I bet success could be found with the Deryni as well.

The whole of the Chronicles of the Deryni could be made into a series. Deryni Rising could be all of the first season. No matter how many episodes it turned out to be ... and then the rest of the books could be turned into the other seasons. If needed it could be stretched to include the Histories of King Kelson and King Kelson's Bride to wrap it all up nicely in a bow.

Now we just need to have Katherine say that would be cool and ok. And then find the studio to do it.

I have a crazy TV mini series idea that would be incredibly difficult to pull off, but if it worked, it would be lots of fun. What if you ran both the Kelson story and the Camber story in the same episodes, flipping between the time periods. Each time period could have it's own very distinct look, different colors, lighting, and fashion and actors. Let the two stories build together and unfold together. Likely a silly idea, but if someone could make it work it would never be a dull moment.

I think the sticking point, whether the adaptation is a feature film, a mini-series, or a full-length, multi-season series (my preference, honestly), is the production team. I'm not sure I'd trust anyone at HBO or Showtime or Starz to do the stories justice; they seem to want to make everything sexier and more violent (and to show the violence more graphically) than the source material is/was.

I'm also not sure KK would be too thrilled to have her books adapted into something like the HBO Game of Thrones or the Starz The White Queen. (Incidentally, it is the epitome of awkward to be sitting in your parents' living room, puttering around on your laptop while you're doing laundry and your stepfather is watching TV with his Bluetooth headphones on, and to look up and see Jaime and Cersei or Edward IV and his queen, Elizabeth nee Woodville, in flagrante delicto. )

Almost all the sex in the Deryni books is "off screen"--you get the "right before someone snuffs the candle" descriptions of Cinhil and Megan's wedding night and the beginning of Imre and Ariella's incestuous relationship, but that's it, and that's perfect, because KK isn't writing bodice-rippers, LOL. (Not to badmouth bodice-rippers, mind; they can be fun, too, but that's just not what the Deryni stories are.)

And while there are a freaking lot of deaths on and off the battlefield/inside and outside fighting scenarios, most of the violence isn't particularly graphic unless there's a plot-driven reason for it to be (Derry's time in Wencit's dungeon, Loris' torture of Duncan, and the rape and murder of Krispin are the three most graphically-described scenes of violence I can think of right off the top of my head).

But I don't want to see the Deryni series turned into something it isn't and wasn't (near as I can tell--obviously I can't read KK's mind) ever meant to be.

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"If having a soul means being able to feel love, loyalty, and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans."

James Herriot (James Alfred "Alfie" Wight), when a human client asked him if animals have souls. (I don't remember in which book the story originally appeared.)

I used Game of Thrones as an example to show the popularity of the genre. But I don't think HBO is over doing Mr. Martin's work. I haven't personally read it but if anyone has please speak up on that point. From what I know the violence in some parts has been toned down by HBO.

Of course anytime one adapts a story to the screen it needs to be as true as possible to the original source. Some liberties are always taken with the change in medium and some of those are necessary when transferring the printed word to the screen. Most authors, at least the wisest ones, take an active part in the adaption of their works to make sure they stay true to the original story, theme, and tone.

The screen adaptations of the Deryni would have to fade to black at the appropriate moments when things get steamy. Katherine's writing style isn't erotica, there is romance but nothing further. Just as her combat sequences are not usually overly graphic these too would have to be kept true when it came to showing them on the screen.

Many times I think that Game of Thrones is overdoing it with the blood loss and gore. Shock value, to show the brutality of the setting and theme of the stories.

IIRC, there was a screenplay written for Deryni Rising, and KK did consult on it. Unfortunately, they increased Kelson's age to 16, and while KK was OK with it, I didn't like it much. There is a big difference between being 14 and 16 (even though we know that the expectations of a 14 year old were a lot higher in those days.)

And I would hate it if they changed Alaric Morgan into some kind of dark-haired adventurer.

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From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggity beasties and things that go bump in the night...good Lord deliver us!

I used Game of Thrones as an example to show the popularity of the genre. But I don't think HBO is over doing Mr. Martin's work. I haven't personally read it but if anyone has please speak up on that point. From what I know the violence in some parts has been toned down by HBO.

I have read the books and watched GOT on HBO. The books are very wordy at times, almost as if GM did not know where to go and was stalling, so HBO was much more efficient at moving the story. Visual media always seem more graphic with sex or violence and HBO certainly used those to maximum effect. But I think the scene where Evaine's family is impaled and crucified is as graphic as anything in GOT.

I used Game of Thrones as an example to show the popularity of the genre. But I don't think HBO is over doing Mr. Martin's work. I haven't personally read it but if anyone has please speak up on that point. From what I know the violence in some parts has been toned down by HBO.

I have read the earlier Game of Throne books, and have never seen the show. In part because I don't have much patience for watching films or TV, so do it rarely, but, more importantly, I really didn't want to *see* the violence and examples of people choosing actions ranging from "not nice" to "truly horrific". I am ok with reading stories that include such things, as I can kinds skim over the troubling bits, but in film I think it would be a bit much. Even if they choose to actually show only a fraction of the things described in the books it would be too much for my taste.

I read the first Game of Thrones book and thought it was awesome. I read the second book and then half of the third. By that time I hated it. It seemed to go no where. We had too many characters and story lines and none of them seemed to meld. Then main characters kept dieing off. In the books, I didn't like Tyrion and I didn't like Daenerys and I was only reading it for John Snow. So when the TV series started I was unsure, yet I watched it anyway with my sister and a good friend, because I was the only one with HBO at the time. I have come to totally love Tyrion and Daenerys and I still love John. It isn't the violence or the x-rated scenes that hold my interest. It is the long slow looks of each character puzzling out what they are thinking. That is the thrill of the show. Sometimes those looks can kill... and they do. Some times the long pauses and camera shots of the actors are looks of major longing, and of intelligence, loyalties and/or intrigue. When a character finally gets what he/she wants, or what we think they deserve, my friends and I applaud. This is where the actors have made the show so much better than the books. Letting the viewers speculate on what characters are planning and thinking. It is almost better than reading it (It doesn't take as long.)As for Season 8 episode 3. I think the directors really screwed up the plot line. Like no one had been listening to all the possible intrigues they had set up for the last eight years. But I will not go into that here.

I think a mini series of the Deryni would be the best choice because that give the story and the actors the time to give the camera those long stares and intriguing facial expressions, so that we the views can delve into their thoughts as if we were in Rapport with them.

I used Game of Thrones as an example to show the popularity of the genre. But I don't think HBO is over doing Mr. Martin's work. I haven't personally read it but if anyone has please speak up on that point. From what I know the violence in some parts has been toned down by HBO.

I have read the books and watched GOT on HBO. The books are very wordy at times, almost as if GM did not know where to go and was stalling, so HBO was much more efficient at moving the story. Visual media always seem more graphic with sex or violence and HBO certainly used those to maximum effect. But I think the scene where Evaine's family is impaled and crucified is as graphic as anything in GOT.

Good point, about the deaths of Evaine's son Aidan and their MacLean relatives (IIRC, Evaine's aunt Aislinn and several of her descendants were also killed) being horribly graphic, and it's another event I would not want to see in living color, as it were.

I stand by my assertion that the production team would make or break the film/mini-series/series if it were to happen. It would require a good director and a good production team willing to stay as faithful as possible to the source material (I know that certain elements of written works just don't translate to a filmed production well), a good special effects department, and the right cast.

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"If having a soul means being able to feel love, loyalty, and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans."

James Herriot (James Alfred "Alfie" Wight), when a human client asked him if animals have souls. (I don't remember in which book the story originally appeared.)

I used Game of Thrones as an example to show the popularity of the genre. But I don't think HBO is over doing Mr. Martin's work. I haven't personally read it but if anyone has please speak up on that point. From what I know the violence in some parts has been toned down by HBO.

I have read the books and watched GOT on HBO. The books are very wordy at times, almost as if GM did not know where to go and was stalling, so HBO was much more efficient at moving the story. Visual media always seem more graphic with sex or violence and HBO certainly used those to maximum effect. But I think the scene where Evaine's family is impaled and crucified is as graphic as anything in GOT.

Good point, about the deaths of Evaine's son Aidan and their MacLean relatives (IIRC, Evaine's aunt Aislinn and several of her descendants were also killed) being horribly graphic, and it's another event I would not want to see in living color, as it were.

I stand by my assertion that the production team would make or break the film/mini-series/series if it were to happen. It would require a good director and a good production team willing to stay as faithful as possible to the source material (I know that certain elements of written works just don't translate to a filmed production well), a good special effects department, and the right cast.

I would like to see a Deryni TV miniseries so that the books are covered in the detail that they deserve. A well-adapted, faithful script along with a good cast and director, too, please. A good director would almost be the most important thing to make sure everyone's performances work, and that the best cast members don't either completely eclipse everyone else, or have their efforts undone by less capable actors.

Still, I'm concerned about whether this would work. I remember be very excited when Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael series was originally televised on Mystery! I ended up feeling disappointed, as I thought the TV scripts and the acting (except that of Derek Jacobi as Cadfael) did not do the books anything close to justice. Of course, if it was a well-adapted Deryni TV series, I would be extraordinarily happy to watch!

It is true that Katherine puts her characters through a lot. (Perhaps not as MUCH as GOT.) but still there is everything that happens in Camber the Heretic and the Heirs of St. Camber Trilogy. And later, there is the death of Jorian de Courcy, Henry Isteyln's execution, and Duncan's torture and last-minute rescue from the stake in the second Kelson trilogy. I haven't watched GOT, as I'm too cheap to pay for HBO. What I've heard about the explicit sex and overt violence in it does not make me regret that decision. But there are ways to convey the less pleasant scenes in the books without celebrating the sadism at work. And I could do with a little more romance/tenderness between Rhys and Evaine, Alaric and Richenda and Kelson and Araxie etc without explicit sex scenes complete with heavy breathing.

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You can have a sound mind in a healthy body--Or you can be a nanonovelist!